A Singaporean pop singer has come out as gay.
Willie Tay was considered a rising star in the Singaporean music scene just a year or two ago. But, his sexuality created a hurdle in his ascent to fame.
Earlier this year, Tay decided to tell his family, friends, and record label about his sexuality. The latter didn’t handle the news well.
As he told Billboard, “It was terrifying, because before I came out to my label, I was worried about losing my job, whether I could continue singing and all of that. So I finally came out to my label and said, ‘I really want to be an openly gay singer, and I think that’s going to help a lot of young lives in Asia.’”
He then added:
“They were like, ‘No, we’re not going to be able to do that because we have our reputation at stake.” I think they were probably worrying about their stock dropping. So they removed all of my social media and dropped me from their label to be protective about their clients and sponsors.”
But despite that pushback to his coming out, the singer, now under the stage name Wils, has released his independent debut single as an openly gay man.
In the video below, Wils dances around the cliffs of Los Angeles with a lover as he sings about being honest with yourself.
As for why Wils decided to come out, its because he wanted to truly represent his world through his music.
“About two years ago, I was trying to write a couple of songs, and I just felt like I couldn’t be myself, being in the closet,” he said to Billboard. “I felt like it just affected a large part of my life, like hanging out with friends and family, I was just constantly living in a lie. I decided that I was going to take a two-year break, and I’ll find myself and who I am and unlearn the fears I had since I was a kid. So ultimately, when all was said and done, I came to that point, and I decided that this was the best way to let my fans know.”
We hope that Tay’s old record label learns to regret their decision to drop him. And we hope to see and hear more from him soon.
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